Back to the Future: The Animated Series
Back to the Future: The Animated Series was an animated series based on the ''Back to the Future'' trilogy of feature films. The series lasted two seasons, each lasting 13 episodes, and ran on CBS from September 21, 1991 to September 1993, and later repeated on FOX from March to September 2003. The show focused on Marty McFly and Doc Brown, together with Doc's wife Clara, their sons Jules and Verne, dog Einstein, and Marty's girlfriend Jennifer Parker as they travelled through time using the DeLorean and steam train time machines. Doc and his family have settled down in 1991 Hill Valley after living in the 1890s, but their time travelling adventures are by no means over. The films' villain Biff Tannen also pops up from time to time. In addition, relatives of both the McFly and Tannen families are plentiful in most of the past or future parallel time zones that the time travellers visit. and the Brown family.]] Mary Steenburgen (Clara) and Thomas F. Wilson (Biff) voiced their characters from the films, and Christopher Lloyd played Doc Brown in live action segments that opened and closed each episode. However, the animated Doc Brown's voice was provided by Dan Castellaneta. In addition, Bill Nye performed scientific experiments during live action segments on each episode. The series was executive produced by Bob Gale, co-writer of the first BTTF and writer of BTTF II and BTTF III. Many fans do not consider the events of the series to be canon with the timeline presented in the original trilogy, with the only exceptions being the birthdates of the main characters and some characters' middle names. Although this show is no longer being shown on television, nine VHS cassettes and three volumes of the show on laserdisc were released between 1993 and 1994, chronicling 18 of the 26 episodes. The show is not yet available on DVD. Cast *Marty McFly - David Kaufman *Dr. Emmett Brown - Dan Castellaneta **(live-action segments) - Christopher Lloyd *Clara Brown - Mary Steenburgen *Jules Brown - Joshua Keaton *Verne Brown - Troy Davidson *Jennifer Parker - Cathy Cavadini *Biff Tannen - Thomas F. Wilson *Bill Nye - Himself Episode guide Below are the episode titles and first transmission dates for all 26 episodes. Season 1 # "Brothers" (September 14, 1991) # "A Family Vacation" (September 21, 1991) # "Forward to the Past" (September 28, 1991) # "Witchcraft" (October 12, 1991) # "Roman Holiday" (a.k.a. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Race") (October 19, 1991) # "Go Fly a Kite" (October 26, 1991) # "Time Waits for No Frog / Einstein's Adventure" (November 2, 1991) # "Batter Up" (November 9, 1991) # "Solar Sailors" (November 16, 1991) # "Dickens of a Christmas" (November 23, 1991) # "Gone Fishin'" (November 30, 1991) # "Retired" (December 7, 1991) # "Clara's Folks" (December 14, 1991) Season 2 # "Mac the Black" (September 19, 1992) # "Put on Your Thinking Caps, Kids! It's Time for Mr. Wisdom!" (September 26, 1992) # "A Friend In Deed" (October 3, 1992) # "Marty McFly PFC" (October 17, 1992) # "Verne's New Friend" (October 24, 1992) # "Bravelord and the Demon Monstrux" (October 31, 1992) # "The Money Tree" (November 7, 1992) # "A Verne by Any Other Name" (November 14, 1992) # "Hill Valley Brown-Out" (November 21, 1992) # "My Pop's an Alien" (December 5, 1992) # "Super Doc" (December 12, 1992) # "St. Louis Blues" (December 19, 1992) # "Verne Hatches an Egg" (December 26, 1992) Trivia *In a testament to the show's historical accuracy, the episode "Batter Up", aired November 9, 1991, which had Marty, Jules, and Verne travel to Boston to help baseball player "Pee Wee" McFly to improve his game in 1891, did accurately name the Boston team as the "Beaneaters", and even featured scenes involving then-real-life manager Frank Selee. *Harvey Comics published a series of Back to the Future comic books starting in November 1991. With the cover header reading "The Adventure Has Only Begun!," the first issue featured Doc & Marty in 1927 Chicago. *In 1991, McDonald's also released four Happy Meal toys, featuring Marty on his hoverboard, Doc in the DeLorean, Verne in his Junkmobile and Einstein in the time train. *Both Marty's and Doc's middle names were revealed in the series as Seamus and Lathrop respectively. Marty's middle name comes from his great great grandfather Seamus McFly. *At the end of "A Family Vacation", Harold McFly (in medieval England) says he will be moving to Ireland. The McFly family stay there until the 1880s, when Seamus and Maggie McFly move from Ireland to America. *Jennifer Parker's hair, brown in the films, becomes blonde in the series. *Marty is the only member of his immediate parallel family to appear in the series. *In the episode where the cast visits the Civil War, the audience learns the modern origin of the Tannen family's catchphrase insult in a predestination paradox, "Butt head." Biff Tannen's great grandfather, a Confederate officer in the Civil War, called his enemies "buttocks brains" but changed it to "butt head" after being corrected by one of Doc Brown's sons. That era's Tannen said, "Butt heads... I like the sound of it." *In the episode "Solar Sailors", the Brown family visit 2091, in which they learn that the McFly family legacy has been immortalised in the McFly Space Cruises, in which Marty's great-granddaughter Marta McFly is a Captain. Additionally, aboard Marta McFly's ship there is a Marty McFly impersonator who performs Marty's music in a nostalgia act, hinting that Marty succeeded in becoming a famous rock star. *In the episode "Time Waits for No Frog", Doc and Marty travel to South America in the 1500s to look for a toad that has since become extinct. They refer to the toad as Bufo marinus. In fact, this is the Latin name for the cane toad, which is far from extinct. *Due to its appearance in the show, the Delorean time machine was presumably rebuilt after its destruction in Back to the Future III. External links * Official Universal Pictures site advertising the trilogy. * BTTF.com * Category:BTTF